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Maurice Hinchey, who served 20 years as a U.S. Congressman representing the Hudson Valley, died on Wednesday. He was 79 and lived in Saugerties.

Hinchey, a Democrat, retired from Congress after his final term ended in January 2013, two years after his office announced that he was being treated for a curable form of colon cancer. Shortly after being treated for the colon cancer, he began experiencing symptoms of frontotemporal dementia.

Hinchey represented the 22nd Congressional District, which included all or parts of Broome, Delaware, Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan, Tioga, Tompkins and Ulster counties from 2003 to 2013.

He was known for being an advocate of the environmental advocate and pushed for the dredging of PCB contamination from the Hudson River.

Hinchey is survived by his wife, Ilene Marder Hinchey, and three grown children.